Volunteers beat back brush and climbed neck-deep into forested drop-offs near Great Central Lake as they searched for a missing 40-year-old Port Alberni woman Amber Manthorne on Saturday.
“It’s an army off the sides of our desks and tailgates,” said friend and search organizer, Kristie St. Claire.
Manthorne was last seen at her Great Central Lake cabin on July 7 — reportedly telling a friend she was about to meet with her ex-boyfriend Justin Hall. She was reported missing on the morning of July 8 when she didn’t show up for work and her white Jeep Compass was found on a logging road south of Nanaimo, more than 100 kilometres away from the cabin.
Since then, there have been countless searches for the 40-year-old woman. Saturday’s search was the largest effort to find her, with over 100 people, using dogs, trucks, ATV’s, drones and kayaks to comb through vast swaths of land and water spanning from the Alberni Valley to Nanaimo.
“It’s too close to home. It’s right in our backyard,” one searcher told CHEK News Saturday.
Friends and family of missing woman Lisa Marie Young organized a search for Manthorne in Nanaimo.
“She’s important and her life matters and we need to find her,” said longtime friend Linden Forrest.
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Volunteers gather before the start of a search for missing Port Alberni woman Amber Manthorne on Saturday. (Skye Ryan/CHEK News)
In an e-mail earlier this week to CHEK News, Hall that although they had an argument, he didn’t hurt her and has no idea why she hasn’t returned.
“I did not hurt my girlfriend. I do not know why she isn’t back home. After our argument, I panicked, and I just wanted to get away from everyone,” he wrote in an e-mail to CHEK News.
However, according to friends of Manthorne, Hall has been missing from every organized search since.
“I just don’t know. You would think that would be … if I were him, I would be [searching], but I’m not him,” said St. Claire. “People are doing what makes them feel they are helping it’s the right thing to do.”
The search was expected to continue until dark, then resume on Sunday, unless the clues they are looking for is found.
Amber Manthorne, 40, of Port Alberni was reported missing on the morning of July 8 when she didn’t show up for work. (Photo supplied)
Skye Ryan
